Fenna - Guardian of Peace

[Alexander.Of.Oz]

I love the one where she is chewing the black fibre matting in the garden. That look in her eye of mischief and “He he, I haven’t been spotted yet!”.... so adorable.

She made mincemeat of that weed matt! I think a thick layer of mulch will be the go for her, she has just discovered the joys of digging, and with the paddles she has on the ends of her legs, she makes craters in no time!

Since she is going to be your service dog, when wil she have her training? Will she be sent away for that? Or are you doing the training?

Puppy School in another couple of weeks, then obedience courses for a few months and then at 6 months after being desexed, she can commence official training as a Psychiatric Assistance Animal; which should take between 12 & 18 months to complete. I'll do all the training with her, the whole idea is for the bonding to start early and build through the various trainings. She'll be wearing an "In Training" jacket for a while. Well, quite a few of them, as she grows out of them...

 

[mollyc]

Thanks for sharing the process and the photos of your puppy.

 

[Alexander.Of.Oz]

A visual mega-update on Fenna, from Mondays venture along the South coast here, as we visited 4 beaches for the last few long exposure images for my upcoming exhibition. This was her first visit to the beach and she absolutely loved it. At each beach I had the end of her lead fixed to one of the belt loops on my jeans, so I could work with both hands free and she was an absolute trooper! Even as we clambered over uneven and ridged rocks at the first beach.

She is only 12 weeks old and already sits, waits, and lays on vocal command. She travels really well in my support workers 4WD, laying down on the back seat on her travel blankie, without complaint.

She's currently growing about 4cm in length, 3cm in height and is putting on a bit over a Kg of weight per week! She's currently 12Kg in weight.

At Myponga Beach, where we had to initially traverse a very narrow pathway with a steep drop-off beside it, and she didn't give it a second thought.

Out on the rocks at Myponga Beach, where again, she didn't show any concern for clambering over the uneven rocks, or waiting patiently for my 5 minute long exposures to be taken.

Then on to her first sandy beach, where she immediately ran round and round in circles of both directions in joy at the discovery of sand!

At another beach covered with pebbles she didn't bat an eyelid at traversing the terrain there either!

 

[kenoh]

I love her facial expression in images 7 and 9. 7 in particular with the sand on her nose. Cheeky little minx. She looks like she is adorable.

Thank you for the update. I was wondering what she was up to yesterday.

 

[mollyc]

I want a love button for your last post, @Alexander.Of.Oz!!

 

[Alexander.Of.Oz]

I love her facial expression in images 7 and 9. 7 in particular with the sand on her nose. Cheeky little minx. She looks like she is adorable.

Thank you for the update. I was wondering what she was up to yesterday.

She's remarkable! Gorgeous, smart, playful, inquisitive, brave, supportive and most importantly, intuitive to my needs. The other night she leapt on the bed when I had convulsions, and applied her full weight to me, giving me assurance throughout the experience! The convulsions are a side effect from some longterm use of heavy and dangerous psych. med's. I have been psych. med. free for nearing a year now, but still have the convulsions and other side-effects irregularly...

I want a love button for your last post, @Alexander.Of.Oz!!

She's definitely a cutie, Molly!

 

[Clix Pix]

I am coming in late to this thread and finally my curiosity pricked me enough to see what it was all about..... Ah, not a “what,” but a “who,” and Fenna is absolutely lovely, really gorgeous!!! This is really neat for you to have the opportunity of bonding with her from her youngest days and to work with her as time goes on so that she will become even more sensitive and responsive to what you need when you need it, and so on. This sounds like such a great match for both of you!

 

[Alexander.Of.Oz]

I am coming in late to this thread and finally my curiosity pricked me enough to see what it was all about..... Ah, not a “what,” but a “who,” and Fenna is absolutely lovely, really gorgeous!!! This is really neat for you to have the opportunity of bonding with her from her youngest days and to work with her as time goes on so that she will become even more sensitive and responsive to what you need when you need it, and so on. This sounds like such a great match for both of you!

Thanks, Clix! It's a beautiful partnership indeed, I truly feel blessed to have her in my life.

 

[Alexander.Of.Oz]

I can't believe it's been a crazy hectic month since sharing any sort of update on the pooches progress!

Fenna travels incredibly well in my support worker friends dual cab 4WD ute, settling on the back seat quickly whilst we head off, potentially 175Km's away from home on any given day as we head off each Monday.

She loves her time out exploring, here she's a bit bewildered by the loudness & cacophony of frogs in a creek just off to the left.

We were down along the South coast this Monday and she had her first creek crossing. She wasn't exactly sure about all the water & how to get to me, but once I came back halfway she just about bowled me over on her way across!

She loves to be off-lead & to be able to just run, this is her coming up the bank of the creek towards me on the way home.

Where we were on this Monday there were a couple of skeletons that had been sun bleached white of cattle & sheep, she wouldn't let me anywhere near her bones, which cause they had been out in the sun so long were safe & just crumbled into calcium powder as she chewed them.

She has a thing for loving sand, like, really, really loving it! She goes nuts, running this way & that, then digging frantically in it. She's not allowed to dig in our garden, so I totally get that aspect of it. This is underneath an old unused bridge, hence the deep shade in these images.

She is now just under 15 Kg's in weight, not too bad for a 17 week old pup, her head is nearly the size she was when I first got her! She still loves people & has to say hello to everybody she sees. When we visit the community centre that I run 2 Mindful Photography programs at she is so well behaved, she instinctively just settles down beside me, out of peoples way if I am standing still for longer than say 30 seconds, when I sit at a table she settles under my legs out of the way. She hasn't been trained to do this yet, her obedience training starts in a weeks time, she just does it instinctively. She traverses open stairs really well. She blocks for me, where she stands between me & people I don't feel comfortable with (normally addicts of some sort, there's a lot of trauma for me when I spot them & I'm hyper-vigilant, spotting them from miles away after having been held captive for half an hour at gun point by some). Again, this is not something she has been trained to do yet, she just does it instinctively!

Right now, she's taking up half of my side of the bed, with her feet twitching as she's dreaming of something, probably of running through a field full of daisies or on the beach or the like...

I count my blessing for her coming into my life every day, I am amazed at the difference she has made already!

 

[Hughmac]

Thanks Alex, I love to see these updates.

The thing about this is that I know she is to be a working dog, but you are giving her the best life she could possibly get, and I am so pleased you are getting something from the relationship as well

The same really with our Milly; we love her to bits and we're still helping her through some early life traumas, but together all our lives are happier.



Milly Running by Hugh Russell, on Flickr

Cheers

Hugh

 

[Alexander.Of.Oz]

Thanks Alex, I love to see these updates.

The thing about this is that I know she is to be a working dog, but you are giving her the best life she could possibly get, and I am so pleased you are getting something from the relationship as well

The same really with our Milly; we love her to bits and we're still helping her through some early life traumas, but together all our lives are happier.



Milly Running by Hugh Russell, on Flickr

Cheers

Hugh

I love that Milly found you two & that you both support her in your own way to have a better life. She looks like a runner there in full flying mode with all four feet off the ground!

 

[Hughmac]

She's a lurcher (staghound in Oz?) - see https://www.mypets.net.au/lurcher/, possibly greyhound x collie but luckily with very little prey drive.
They can run 30-40mph on the flat although I think Milly is closer to 30 because of her slightly heavier body. However it's all muscle



Milly Running by Hugh Russell, on Flickr

Sorry to steal your thread

Cheers

Hugh

 

[Alexander.Of.Oz]

The Thursday before last was an interesting day for Fenna & I. She was in the yard playing with a bee, as you do when you're an inquisitive pup, which I didn't notice initially. She must have decided to chew on it, so got stung on the inner gum, as you would expect a bee to do, defending itself. She broke out in hives on the face, large pimple sized things, then immediately broke out with them over her entire body. I knew this was not a good reaction.

Luckily, we have a vet next literally door, behind us. So I rushed her there, where I explained what had happened, showing them her hives, pale gums & laboured breathing. The vet was in surgery at that point & the front counter staff were trying to work out what to do, when Fenna collapsed on the tiles, barely breathing. They picked her up & rushed her into the second surgery room, putting her on oxygen immediately.

Over the course of an hour her heart stopped four times & she had five vials of adrenalin to bring her back each time. My partner & I were in a consult room next door, where you could hear the heart beat monitor go silent, then race, then steady, over & over again. I was a mix of blubbering & trying to send her Reiki & other etheric healing energy by distance for the duration & was completely dissociated through it all.

The vet sent his practice partner to look after Fenna through all this, while he & a vet nurse completed the surgery they were on when we presented. Once she was stabilised, we were told the good news that she had survived her anaphylactic shock, but they wanted to keep her in for observation until just before close that evening.

When I got back to pick her up, or see if she had to be transferred to an overnight facility, Fenna was like as though nothing had happened, apart from the little shaved section on the front right leg!

Bloody boof-head!

I have an Epi-pen on hand now, just in case, with repeats, which I hopefully won't need to use, apart from making sure they are within use by date.

The next day, she walked all around the city with me as if nothing had actually happened the day prior!

I don't have any images of her with the reaction, that never entered my mind, I was solely focused on her welfare. But, here's a few recent images of her travels with me.

At the local community garden, where my partner & one of her lads are creating a butterfly garden & nature-play area for the local kids.

Our tiny terrier has taken over Fennas huge dog mattress & Fenna is more often than not relegated to the terriers tiny bed...

The day after all the reaction & you wouldn't have known that anything had occured...

Fenna chilling on a cool drain cover, while I sit & have a coffee before heading off for the day.

The first garden bed we get to on departure for that Friday & Fenna's already tempting fate, climbing in & having a damn good sniff of the street flowers, which are buzzing with bees... She wasn't interested in chewing on any this time.

In the major shopping strip in the CBD here, which is an outdoor mall, there are these famous pig sculptures. Fenna had no idea what to make of them & took some coaxing & reassurance from me that they were okay, before she would even get close to them! I think she was waiting for them to move. This is her almost ready to sniff the snout of one.

After a full day festival for mental health, we went for a stroll through the parks & along the riverway. She loved the waterjets in the background here that you can just make out. She loves streams or jets of water, but I can't let her play like that at home with the hose as it actually causes all manner of obsessive issues, which would then make training a problem later on... But apparently these type of waterjets are okay for her, as it's not operated or held by me!

Jut having a quick rest as we leave the riverbanks & head back into the CBD.

Fenna having a culture fix, outside the state art gallery.

This Friday, when we got to explore a huge industrial estate that is now abandoned.

 

[Hughmac]

A very worrying moment for you, glad she's OK now.

Our Milly caught a wasp a couple of weeks ago, and by her reaction I think she was stung in the mouth. Luckily she shrugged it off and carried on, but a tense few hours watching her for any signs of distress, and she wouldn't let me look in her mouth to check for stings.

Cheers

Hugh

 

[Apple fanboy]

The Thursday before last was an interesting day for Fenna & I. She was in the yard playing with a bee, as you do when you're an inquisitive pup, which I didn't notice initially. She must have decided to chew on it, so got stung on the inner gum, as you would expect a bee to do, defending itself. She broke out in hives on the face, large pimple sized things, then immediately broke out with them over her entire body. I knew this was not a good reaction.

Luckily, we have a vet next literally door, behind us. So I rushed her there, where I explained what had happened, showing them her hives, pale gums & laboured breathing. The vet was in surgery at that point & the front counter staff were trying to work out what to do, when Fenna collapsed on the tiles, barely breathing. They picked her up & rushed her into the second surgery room, putting her on oxygen immediately.

Over the course of an hour her heart stopped four times & she had five vials of adrenalin to bring her back each time. My partner & I were in a consult room next door, where you could hear the heart beat monitor go silent, then race, then steady, over & over again. I was a mix of blubbering & trying to send her Reiki & other etheric healing energy by distance for the duration & was completely dissociated through it all.

The vet sent his practice partner to look after Fenna through all this, while he & a vet nurse completed the surgery they were on when we presented. Once she was stabilised, we were told the good news that she had survived her anaphylactic shock, but they wanted to keep her in for observation until just before close that evening.

When I got back to pick her up, or see if she had to be transferred to an overnight facility, Fenna was like as though nothing had happened, apart from the little shaved section on the front right leg!

Bloody boof-head!

I have an Epi-pen on hand now, just in case, with repeats, which I hopefully won't need to use, apart from making sure they are within use by date.

The next day, she walked all around the city with me as if nothing had actually happened the day prior!

I don't have any images of her with the reaction, that never entered my mind, I was solely focused on her welfare. But, here's a few recent images of her travels with me.

At the local community garden, where my partner & one of her lads are creating a butterfly garden & nature-play area for the local kids.
View attachment 796953

Our tiny terrier has taken over Fennas huge dog mattress & Fenna is more often than not relegated to the terriers tiny bed...
View attachment 796960

The day after all the reaction & you wouldn't have known that anything had occured...

Fenna chilling on a cool drain cover, while I sit & have a coffee before heading off for the day.
View attachment 796955

The first garden bed we get to on departure for that Friday & Fenna's already tempting fate, climbing in & having a damn good sniff of the street flowers, which are buzzing with bees... She wasn't interested in chewing on any this time.
View attachment 796954

In the major shopping strip in the CBD here, which is an outdoor mall, there are these famous pig sculptures. Fenna had no idea what to make of them & took some coaxing & reassurance from me that they were okay, before she would even get close to them! I think she was waiting for them to move. This is her almost ready to sniff the snout of one.
View attachment 796956

After a full day festival for mental health, we went for a stroll through the parks & along the riverway. She loved the waterjets in the background here that you can just make out. She loves streams or jets of water, but I can't let her play like that at home with the hose as it actually causes all manner of obsessive issues, which would then make training a problem later on... But apparently these type of waterjets are okay for her, as it's not operated or held by me!
View attachment 796957

Jut having a quick rest as we leave the riverbanks & head back into the CBD.
View attachment 796958

Fenna having a culture fix, outside the state art gallery.
View attachment 796959

This Friday, when we got to explore a huge industrial estate that is now abandoned.
View attachment 796963

Glad it turned out in the end and I’m sure she has learnt her lesson!

 

[Alexander.Of.Oz]

A very worrying moment for you, glad she's OK now.

Our Milly caught a wasp a couple of weeks ago, and by her reaction I think she was stung in the mouth. Luckily she shrugged it off and carried on, but a tense few hours watching her for any signs of distress, and she wouldn't let me look in her mouth to check for stings.

Cheers

Hugh

It was a worry seeing her react so badly & so quickly, but, with an expensive Epi-pen on hand at all times now, I can at least breathe a little lighter about it.

Poor Milly, those buggers stings sting & that they can do it repeatedly makes it even worse. The brother-in-law got stung about 15 times within a second when he reached for the jockey wheel on an old caravan here, that used to be the boys giant fort! European Wasps that was & he found their hive for us! Some antihystamines & he was right within about 10 minutes, but the stings looked nasty.

Glad it turned out in the end and I’m sure she has learnt her lesson!

Apparently one of the 19yo lads saw her in the garden backing off from a bee yesterday morning! Fingers crossed...

 

[kenoh]

She is so so adorable...

 

[Alexander.Of.Oz]

It's been a couple of months since my last update & so much has happened in between times! Fenna's growth has slowed down now that she is nearly 7 months old. About a month ago we had a major panic event as she went lame in her back right leg when I was out doing some exploring of decrepitude at an abandoned quarry. I had to carry her a bit over 2 kilometre's back to my support workers 4WD, which was no mean feat for me as she weighed just under 20Kg's back then. When we got her to the emergency vet hospital, they couldn't work out what was going on, as it could have either been a break in the leg or a bite reaction! Given a choice of X-rays or blood tests, I went with blood tests after her previous bee sting reaction. Turns out she was bitten by a spider & having a nasty reaction to that & she also strained the same leg on our investigations of the quarry, scrambling over some steep sections. After some morphine, liquids, antibiotics & lots of rest she bounced back again, like nothing ever happened.

This is her that night at the vets ER.

Last week she was speyed (desexed) & I decided to go with a kids pool noodle instead of the cone of shame. This is her the afternoon of surgery, looking a little worse for wear.

This is her the next day, looking decidedly doof-like again.

In amongst all of this she underwent her foundation level dog obedience & passed with flying colours! We have gone all over the place traveling around with my Mindful Photography groups & myself with my own photography too.

Here she is sitting under the table at my fortnightly Dungeons & Dragons session.

& here's some from our travels around the place since the last update, this first one was taken of Fenna & me as I was landing a borrowed drone after taking footage of the group at play when we visited some decrepit farmhouses not too far away.

Being a doofus!

Checking out a huge mushroom, a leather-jacket, I think they are called, when we were checking out an abandoned gold battery, where they crushed iron-ore & treated it, including using tanks of arsenic in part of the process that carried a positive electrical charge to them somehow. The site was abandoned nearly 80 years ago & was cleaned up in the 70's.

She has a thing for digging in sand & then planting her nose in it whilst snuffling really deeply... must be something she can smell in there!

Site supervisor at the local community garden.

At the beach this evening, after having maddies digging in the wet sand.

 

[Apple fanboy]

It's been a couple of months since my last update & so much has happened in between times! Fenna's growth has slowed down now that she is nearly 7 months old. About a month ago we had a major panic event as she went lame in her back right leg when I was out doing some exploring of decrepitude at an abandoned quarry. I had to carry her a bit over 2 kilometre's back to my support workers 4WD, which was no mean feat for me as she weighed just under 20Kg's back then. When we got her to the emergency vet hospital, they couldn't work out what was going on, as it could have either been a break in the leg or a bite reaction! Given a choice of X-rays or blood tests, I went with blood tests after her previous bee sting reaction. Turns out she was bitten by a spider & having a nasty reaction to that & she also strained the same leg on our investigations of the quarry, scrambling over some steep sections. After some morphine, liquids, antibiotics & lots of rest she bounced back again, like nothing ever happened.

This is her that night at the vets ER.

View attachment 812212
Last week she was speyed (desexed) & I decided to go with a kids pool noodle instead of the cone of shame. This is her the afternoon of surgery, looking a little worse for wear.

View attachment 812213
This is her the next day, looking decidedly doof-like again.

View attachment 812214
In amongst all of this she underwent her foundation level dog obedience & passed with flying colours! We have gone all over the place traveling around with my Mindful Photography groups & myself with my own photography too.

Here she is sitting under the table at my fortnightly Dungeons & Dragons session.

View attachment 812216

& here's some from our travels around the place since the last update, this first one was taken of Fenna & me as I was landing a borrowed drone after taking footage of the group at play when we visited some decrepit farmhouses not too far away.

View attachment 812217
Being a doofus!

View attachment 812218

Checking out a huge mushroom, a leather-jacket, I think they are called, when we were checking out an abandoned gold battery, where they crushed iron-ore & treated it, including using tanks of arsenic in part of the process that carried a positive electrical charge to them somehow. The site was abandoned nearly 80 years ago & was cleaned up in the 70's.

View attachment 812220

She has a thing for digging in sand & then planting her nose in it whilst snuffling really deeply... must be something she can smell in there!

View attachment 812221

Site supervisor at the local community garden.

View attachment 812222

At the beach this evening, after having maddies digging in the wet sand.

View attachment 812219

Glad she pulled through the spider thing! You have some beasts down there!

 

[mollyc]

She’s so cute

 

[Clix Pix]

Thanks for catching us up on what's been happening with Fenna! I'm glad that thing with the leg turned out so well and of course it is a very good idea to have her spayed. No worries now about unexpected arrival of puppies in the future!

I like that idea of using pool noodles rather than the usual "cone of shame" -- probably much more comfortable for her and it looks really rather cool!

 

[Alexander.Of.Oz]

Glad she pulled through the spider thing! You have some beasts down there!

Yeah, those Tasmanian portrait photographers are a breed unto themselves! You need to keep an eye out for them...

She’s so cute

She's drop dead gorgeous, but without the prima donna attitude!

Thanks for catching us up on what's been happening with Fenna! I'm glad that thing with the leg turned out so well and of course it is a very good idea to have her spayed. No worries now about unexpected arrival of puppies in the future!

I like that idea of using pool noodles rather than the usual "cone of shame" -- probably much more comfortable for her and it looks really rather cool!

I was lucky that we went with the blood tests as the first action, rather than X-rays. It's pretty cool that they were able to narrow down what had happened through that process, by reading the resulting levels. Apparently they could have told me if it was another bee, or a wasp, or certain other animals like snake, scorpion, etc... We never found any puncture marks at a bite site though.

A few weeks before her spaying surgery I investigated gentle, trauma free alternatives for her & this was the best for her as a larger dog. I had so many people yesterday at the beach asking if they were her floaties! I reckon I easily told the story of them being a gentle & trauma free alternative to the 'cone of shame' to about 50 or more people.

Today is our first day out using the public transit system, I have printed off the Disability Discrimination Act section that gives us the right to access public places & the transit system as she is an Assistance Dog in-Training. I have a feeling I am going to be told "no way buddy" a few times along the way, to which I will whip out my folder with the relevant quotes, including where it says the same thing on the transit system companies own website.

 

[mollyc]

I like that it looks like she was wearing a Christmas bow, rather than the cone of shame.

 

[The Bad Guy]

Yeah, those Tasmanian portrait photographers are a breed unto themselves! You need to keep an eye out for them...

I resemble that remark!

Glad to hear things are going well with you and the pooch, mate.

 

[Alexander.Of.Oz]

I resemble that remark!

Funny about that! What a coincidence!

Glad to hear things are going well with you and the pooch, mate.

We went for our first train rides on Sunday, going into the city & back again. She was brilliant, settled nicely between my partners feet & mine where we were sitting opposite each other for the duration, on her travel blankie. She even ignored a baby crying the whole way in & some kids being very loud & boisterous on the way home! The transit staff at the city station were excellent, letting us get through without any grief or troubles. Mind you she does have a fluorescent green harness that says "In Training" on it on both sides, it's pretty hard to miss what she's doing there with me.

I totally get why a lot of returned service veterans go with bigger breeds for their PTSD now.